Forgiveness is a Gift
by JennySmith-TARDIS
Summary: A Knight fights on a jungle planet. Her old Master meditates on Coruscant. The Order is given, and choices have to be made before it's too late. Because it's not a fight for democracy, it's a fight for survival.
1. 1 Beginning

A Jedi knight was sitting in her tent, talking to a hologram. The blue form was staticky and blurred out at several points, but the transmission didn't cut off.

"-you've got to get out of there! I'm telling you, there's an order to kill all the Jedi. It's called order 66 and the clones won't hesitate." The hologram demanded.

"And I'm telling you, Cyran. I trust these clones with my life. We have been through too many battles for me to turn on them just because you may have found something."

"Look, Tayski. I'm telling you this because I'm your friend. There are not many who look favorably on the Jedi and it wouldn't have taken much to hack into the Kamino system and plant these orders."

"Just drop it, Cyran. I don't have time for this. I'm on the front lines. I don't get much sleep as it is, can you please drop it."

"Tay, please just listen-"

"No Cyran. I don't have time for this."

"Just promise me, Tay. Promise me that if I die under suspicious circumstances-"

"Don't talk like that!"

"Promise me that you'll leave your unit. You don't have to kill any of them just leave. Get as far away from the war as possible."

"Cyran, you can't possibly expect me to disobey-"

"Tayski please, promise me this. Please."

The Knight sighed. "I can't believe I'm saying this." She muttered. "Alright. But only if the circumstances are suspicious and if it doesn't involve the war on any level. Does that satisfy you?" She said.

"That's all I'm going to get, so it's good for me. Goodbye Tayski."

"Goodbye, Cyran. I'll see you on Coruscant when we win this war." The transmission cut and the blue image flickered out. The Knight sighed as she placed the transmitter back on her belt. She pulled a wooden box from under her bunk and sat on her bed. She removed the lid, revealing the identification codes of clone troopers.

"Why do we have to do this?" She moaned. "Why do we have to kill?" She replaced the lid and placed the box back under her bunk. She moved to her tent entrance and looked out. She saw some clones milling around, but most were in their tents or on guard duty. She looked around at the jungle surrounding their camp. It was still awake. She could hear the insects buzzing and the drip-drip of water, the calls of wild animals and the shrieks of the birds. And she shivered.

The night air was warm and moist, but it wasn't home. It was enemy territory. The Separatists could be out there right now, watching them, waiting to make a move. But why? Why start a war? Simply because they thought the government had too much control? Or because the smaller systems felt unprotected? There had to be more behind it all, but she couldn't see it. It was elusive, like catching smoke with your bare hands.

* * *

 **3 months later**

Jedi Master Shaak Ti was deep in meditation when she was hit with a vision. She saw her old padawan, green lightsaber activated and deflecting blaster bolts. Then a blue hologram flickering out and a clone's voice saying, "it will be done, my lord." She saw her Padawan's horrified face, the redhead pushing a clone out of the way and then the Knight falling to her knees in front of the clone she had pushed, holding a blaster wound on her side and mouthing something to the commander. The vision ended as the girl's green eyes flickered shut.

Shaak Ti opened her eyes and took a deep breath. She didn't have to think about what she should do about the vision, she already knew. The Force was trying to warn her. Something was coming, and she needed to get her padawan out of it.

The Togruta Jedi calmly left the room and aimed for the hangars. On the way, she felt the Force nudge her when she passed younglings or Knight who had not received their missions yet. She followed the will of the Force and told them to come with her. They looked at her oddly, but followed the Jedi Master anyway.

By the time she reached the hangars she had thirty to forty younglings with her. She chose a Jedi transport that had a med station in it and then made sure the young Jedi were on board. One of the older knights to the copilot seat next to her and soon the transport was lifting off and heading for space.

* * *

Jedi Knight Tayski Tivraa was pushing through some thick foliage when the attack started. Droids sprung out of nowhere and started shooting at the group. Tayski's lightsaber was activated and she started deflecting bkaster bolts away while the clones shot the droids down.

She heard the distant sound of a comm link buzzing and then someone speaking, but she was too consent rated on blocking blaster fire that she only heard, "...order 66," and, "will be done." Tayski felt herself pale. Cyran had been right and she had been wrong.

She turned to look at her commander, wanting to see if it was true for herself. She saw him raise his blaster, uncertainly and that's when she saw the droid behind him. It's arm was up and ready to shoot, but bdfire it could, Tayski was there. She shoved Commander Leed out of the way and brought her blade up, but she was too off balance when the bolts came. Three hit her lightsaber, but two hit her.

She fell as her clones opened fire on the droid. Her knees hit the ground next to Commander Leed. She could smell burnt flesh and could feal the blood spreading across her tunic.

Her body was starting to go into shock. She knew because she was breathing rapidly, her hands were shaking and she was getting dizzy. She forced down her panic as she looked at the commander. His helmet was off and he was staring at her She smiled and raised a shaky, bloody hand and placed it on his armor over his heart. "At least you weren't the one who pulled the trigger."

Her pale face grew paler and she fell on her side, her hand left a bloody smear across the white armor. The clone's mouth move but no sound came out. She gave him another small smile then her eyes flickered shut.

* * *

Commander Leed had never been so conflicted. He knew his orders and that he had to follow them, but he also knew the young woman he was being told to kill. She would have never let orders control her. She would do what needed to be done, no matter what the consequences. She would save anyone, including a clone, within a heatbeat if it were at all possible. Tayski Tivraa was a good woman.

And he had orders to kill her.

it was almost as if his body knew what it had been told to do, because his arms lifted the blaster, aimed right at her heart. She was looking at him like she knew what was going on and suddenly she was pushing him. He thought he was going to die. He was grateful that she was fighting back. He didn't want to shoot her down while her back was turned.

But nothing happened. He rolled over and saw his brothers shooting into the trees and General Tivraa standing over him with her lightsaber. But then she fell.

And as his brothers beat back the rouge droids, she told him that she had known of his orders. She knew that he had meant to shoot her, yet was glad that he couldn't have.

Then her eyes closed and he knew that he had a choice.

* * *

 **Thank you so much for reading!**

 **I do not own anything in the star wars universe except for Tayski Tivraa, Cyran and Commander Leed.**


	2. 2 Following Orders

Shaak Ti took a deep breath as the planet grew in size before her. A pinprick flare from the force led her to a clearing in a tangled, wild forest. She saw flashes of white below the tree cover and prepared herself for a fight.

Once the transport had landed, Master Ti and two Knights departed from the ship, leaving orders with the other knights to leave if the situation went south. The three Jedi walked through the forest, following the faint force signature ahead of them. All were ready for an attack at any moment.

The attack never came. Instead, they found the clones surrounding the still body of the Jedi Knight. As the three Jedi came forward, one clone looked up and saw them.

Shaak was ready to fight, but instead she was shocked, when the commander came forward and laid her padawan's body in her arms.

"You need to leave." Commander Leed said. "The Emperor has declared that every Jedi is a traitor and they are to be killed on sight."

"Why are you helping the Jedi?" One knight asked.

"General Tivraa somehow knew of the order to kill the Jedi. She knew, yet she still fought and risked her life for us. She fell because of me. She saw the droid and tried to protect me, but was hit instead. Once she fell, she didn't rebuke or ask why, she just said that she was thankful we hadn't been the ones to pull the trigger."

"I don't know very many Jedi. There may be truth behind why the Emperor gave the order, but I know Tayski Tivraa. She would disobey an order to save as many people as possible and she saw her troops as men, not clones. I respect her and her Master. That, is why I am helping this Jedi."

Before the Knights could say anything, Shaak Ti spoke, "Thank you. Thank you for not shooting her, for not losing yourselves to the biases of the galaxy, thank you." With that, she turned away and started back through the forest. The Knights stood for a moment, looking at each other, the clones, and Master Ti.

As they started to leave, Commander Leed spoke again. "I don't know if Knight Tivraa will survive, but I want her to know, I made my choice. Because of her, I am at the service of the Jedi."

* * *

Master Shaak Ti took her padawan straight to the medical station and strapped the unconscious girl down so she wouldn't get thrown around during the flight. Then she returned to the cockpit, walking past sleeping younglings as she did.

She found the knight who had been co-pilot on the way to the planet, waiting for her. "All ready to go." He said. "Everything is warmed up and ready to take off."

"Thank you, Knight-?"

"Knight Khanh."

"Thank you, Knight Khanh." She entered a route for Polis Massa into the ship's database and then eased the transport into position and shifted into hyperdrive.

* * *

Commander Leed watched as his general was carried away. He watched as the Jedi transport blasted into hyperspace, and he felt relief.

He had betrayed his superior, turned his gun on her, watched as she defended him, and felt the despicable feeling of loss when her eyes closed. He had never been so relieved to feel a pulse, weak as it was.

Now his General was safe. Or rather, safer. The clones had to pack up and return to Coruscant. There they would be reassigned and sent to different planets. As Commander Leed watched his men pick up the supplies that they had brought with them, he promised to never forget the young woman who saw the clones as separate men, who fought for those who could not. He would never forget the woman with green eyes and a knack for trouble.

The commander sighed and followed his men into their own transport. He had made his choice.

When the time came, he would once again fight for the Jedi.


	3. 3 Poliss Massa

**I have mixed feeling for this chapter. Mostly I don't think it matches the story line, but I don't know how to fully connect the story. Does that makes sense? I don't know. I'm probably completely crazy.**

 **Please let me know what you think. Bye!**

* * *

Shaak Ti was roused from her meditation by voices outside the room. She glanced at the still form of her old padawan before summoning her lightsaber and making for the door.

Whatever she expected, the sight that met her eyes when the door slid open was not it. Master Kenobi, Master Yoda and Senator Organa stared back at her with equal shock.

"You both are alive." The stunned togruta woman said.

"As are you." Obi-wan said. "What brings you to Polis Massa, Master?"

"My old padawan was injured before I could pull her out. I brought her here as it is the safest medical facility in the galaxy right now. Who else is here with you?"

"Senator Amidala."

"What has she done this time?"

"Married Knight Skywalker."

"She what!"

"Senator Amidala confirmed that her and Skywalker were married three years ago, right after the battle of Geonosis. And she is now carrying his children."

"What!"

"Perhaps we should continue this conversation elsewhere."

"Agree I do, Senator. Eyes and ears everywhere, there are." Yoda' voice rasped.

"Where is the Senator?" Master Ti asked as they walked down the hallway.

"Senator Amidala is about to go into surgery to deliver her children. They do not expect her to survive."

"Why is she going in for surgery, then?"

"Because, it seems, she has lost the will to live." The rest of the conversation was lost in echoes as they walked further away from the room. A pair of ears strained to pick up more of the conversation, but they had heard what they needed.

* * *

Bare feet pad against the hard floor. A door slides open and someone gasped. In the middle of the room, there was a bed. A dark haired woman lay in the bed, heavily pregnant. A pale looking Tayski moved over to her.

"Oh, Padme." She whispered as she got close. The knight kneeled down next to the bed, so that she was near the Senator's head. "I don't know what you're feeling. I have never been married, never been close to someone, like you have." She looked at the woman's pained face.

"For someone to be taken from you, it's a horrible sensation. It feels like something is being torn from your soul. It's almost worse if you see it happen yourself. If they die or change in front of you."

Tayski sighed and pressed her head against the bed. "I'm here because I don't want you to leave your children. I don't want them growing up not knowing about you or Anakin. I know what it's like not to have a mother and to see others die in front of me, or to know that they had died and there was nothing you could have done to help them."

"Please Padme, don't give up your life. Stay strong for your children. We need you. They need you." With that, the young woman got up and left, stopping to look behind her at the woman barely hanging onto life. She sighed and exited the room, the door sliding shut behind her.


	4. 4 Outlaw Base

**_I do not own anything you recognize._**

* * *

 _Nineteen years later_

"Get those boxes onto a transport and then make sure they make it out of here!" A human woman who looked to be in her late twenties was barking orders as she studied the screens and adjusted dials. The building shuddered. Dust drifted throughout the room as people hurried around.

"We have an incoming call from a Rebellion leader!" someone shouted.

"Put it through!" The woman yelled back. A shaky image of a woman dressed in white appeared on the screen.

"Outlaw Base, what is going on?"

"In case you have't noticed, we're under attack!" the woman shouted at the screen, typing something and handing it off to a black clad togruta. "I'm evacuating the base. We are trying to get everything out, but the imperial starships are causing a problem."

"None of the rebel ships will be able to get there in time to help." The rebellion leader said. "The only thing you can do is to make sure to torch the place once everyone is out."

"I can't guarantee that everyone will get out and I'm not torching the place if someone is trapped inside!"

"You may not have a choice."

"Listen here, Mon Mothma. There's a reason this base was named Outlaw Base. If you make me blow the place with people inside, you'll have a lot harder time fighting this war."

"Sacrifices have to be made!" Mothma tried. "We can't save everyone."

"You're right. We can't." The other woman conceded. "But we can try."

"That is an impossibility and you know-"

"Yes. I do know." She cut Mothma off. "I have a base to evacuate, so if you don't mind, I would like to work on that. Send who you can, or don't send anyone at all."

"Sarle-"

"We're outlaws Mothma. This is what we do." she pressed a button and the screen went black. She pulled a microphone close and turned it on.

"Outlaw Base, I have some news." she paused. "We will be receiving no help from the Rebellion. They are too far away to be of any assistance. We will have to get out our way and leave the base in ashes when we do. There's no time, the empire is already upon us. It's time we show why we are named outlaws."

The mic was turned off and she turned to the people in the room. "It's time to leave." She received several nods and then those around her started to pick up boxes and head out. The woman waited until the last group was ready to leave, then she picked up a weapons belt and walked out with them.

As the last group, they ran a higher risk of running into stormtroopers. Which they did, sort of. They could hear them on the other side of the doors, working out how to break them down. The woman sighed.

"Go ahead of me. I take care of this, then catch up."

"Sarle, we don't have enough time. You won't make it onto the transport before we leave." A bothan said.

"Then have one circle or stay out of range until I reach the surface." The woman said. "I've done this before. Just make sure you get out with all the information about this base and the rebellion. We can't have it falling into imperial hands."

With resigned looks on their faces, the technicians left. The woman waited until they were out of sight before she faced the doorway. She took a cylindrical item off her belt before taking a deep breath and unlocking the door. The door slid open, revealing a contingent of stormtroopers.

Blasters started firing on both sides. The woman shot her blaster one handed, keeping the hand with the cylinder behind her back. A few stormtroopers fell as she ducked and dodged the bolts. Until a stormtrooper threw a small bomb at her feet. Her eyes widened and she jumped back in time to avoid injury, but the blast blew her back a few feet. The cap that concealed her hair was knocked off.

A clone commander stepped through the doorway, blaster in hand and found her through the smoke. He aimed, but paused at the sight of her red hair.

She looked up and saw the stormtrooper standing above her. She looked around for her blaster, but found it out of reach. Resigned, she readjusted her grip on the cylinder in her hand. The woman jumped up, swinging the device in her hand, straight at the stormtrooper. Only it was no longer a simple device. A green blade had sprung to life and was about to end the life of a clone.

Only, it didn't. The blade stoped less than three inches from the stormtroopers helmet. The woman stared at him. "No." her arm dropped as the lightsaber deactivated. She backed away from them. "I can't kill them." she muttered. "Not with this blade."

The woman turned to grabbed her blaster, but stopped when the commander said. "General Tayski Tivraa." She froze, and turned slowly to face him. The other stormtroopers watched, their weapons lowered.

"What did you say?" she said, slowly.

"General Tayski Tivraa." The clone repeated.

"She's dead. She was killed by her clones."

"We didn't kill her." Another stormtrooper spoke up. He was just inside the doorway, watching his commander and the rebel leader.

"You-You're the 422nd legion?" the woman looked taken aback.

"Most of us, anyway. We lost about half of the troop over the past few years." replied a stormtrooper with yellow markings. "Anyway, now that we know you're alive, we can start our rebellion."

"What?" The woman stared at them blankly. "What are you talking about?"

"General Tivraa, we are under your command." The commander said, placing his arm across his chest.

"Look, I don't know who you're talking-"

"General, I haven't met anyone in the Galaxy who has the same shade of hair as you." The clone with the yellow markings deadpanned.

"Kriff." The woman said. "My hair gave me away?"

"Only once your hat was knocked off. That was my fault by the way, General." The stormtrooper by the doorway said."

"You guys are back to calling me 'General'?" Tayski said, locating her hat and jamming her hair back into it.

"Of course." Tayski rolled her eyes at the sarcasm.

"We need to get out, can I count on the 422nd to assist the rebels escape?"

"Yes ma'am!" the stormtroopers left, except for the commander.

"It's good to see you alive." the man said.

"It's good knowing that the men I commanded are still alive, and are against the Empire." Tayski admitted. "However, we don't have the time to catch up. The base is about to fall and I need to get to my transport."

"Yes, General." The commander left her and headed after his men. General Tivraa watched him go before she picked up her blaster and hooked her lightsaber onto her belt. She ran through the abandoned hallways, hurrying towards the sound of engines.

A few minutes later she emerged into the Large cavern they had used for the large transport ships and the smaller crafts. She made it to the last transport as it made liftoff. Fighting her way to the cockpit, she got on the comm's.

"Outlaws, watch out for help from imperial craft."

"Copy. Why are we getting help?" came the crackled voice of a rebel general.

"Some old friends have arrived. I'll explain in debrief." Tayski said.

"Alright." came the reply.

Tayski looked at the pilot. "Time for us to get out of here."


End file.
